The Protector
by Purpwithapen
Summary: When a call goes wrong, will Team One be able to save one of their own? Two shot, Team One and individual whump.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: My muse suddenly hit me with this idea and I just had to get it on paper (so to speak). This will be a one shot and is set in season two. Jules and Sam are broken up, Lou died a few months ago and Raf is on the team. This was a long one and I WAS too stubborn to give up making it a one shot, until I tried to load it on the site. :( So, it is now a two shot. Let me know what you think!**

Ed, Raf and Sam were nearly to the top of the 30 story Murray building and all three were huffing a little. Who needed the stairmaster? They just needed a hot call. It was the first of the day but it was late afternoon and they'd spent the first half of the day training.

Sam looked at Raf and smiled. "Outta breath?" He lightly swung his hand at Raf.

"No more than you." Raf smiled and stood up straight. He had been bent over, hands on his knees catching his breath. He slapped Sam on the shoulder companionably. A moment later they were both serious. They brought their guns up and readied to enter the floor.

"Ready?" Ed asked, MP5 pointed at the door. He was glad neither had noticed how winded he was. They were all in excellent shape, but 30 floors was a lot to climb up.

"Copy." Sam and Raf answered together. They entered an open area where 25 people were waiting for the elevators.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Ed yelled over the din of conversation in the room. When the talking stopped, he said, "we are with the Strategic Response Unit. Sorry folks, the elevators are shut down. Please use the stairs but go calmly, no running." They watched as the people started filing into the stairwell, groaning and moaning about all the stairs they had to go down.

Sam glanced at a pretty but overweight girl as they walked to the left to clear the offices. He nodded at her and they moved ahead.

Elaine was in awe of the officers in their uniforms. They each looked like they meant business. When the bald one said they had to walk down the stairwell she looked to the doors of the stairwell. Dammit, she thought. She looked around the throng of people for her co-workers and finally found them, but they had just disappeared into the stairwell.

This is what I get, she thought sadly. She blew out a breath and joined the end of the line of people exiting to the stairs. She happened to look over when the handsome blonde officer looked at her and then nodded. She blushed and looked away. Damn he was cute, she thought. No way he'd ever go for someone like me though. She looked next to her and saw Jeannette, the office hottie. Oh, he was looking at her, of course he was stupid. She looked at the wall.

The guys cleared the three separate offices on the west side of the building and moved to the east, all the while listening to Jules, the Boss and Spike in the truck hunting down information on the bomber while Wordy talked to people coming out of the building. The bottom ten floors had been cleared by security when they first got the bomb threat and they were working their way down with local PD starting on the 20th floor.

Elaine saw the officers walk to the other side of the building. None of them looked at her, but she was still following the crowd. As she got closer to the stairs her heart was racing more than it usually did. The thought of walking down all of those flights made them seem like she was walking down from Everest. She wondered for the hundredth time why she took the job on the top floor. It paid really well, that's why, she thought.

The man and woman in front of her didn't acknowledge that she was behind them, they kept talking quietly, wondering what was happening. She looked to where the three officers disappeared and her fear mounted. Soon they'd be coming back and would tell them to be careful, but hurry. Oh god, she thought, I can't be rushed. It's going to take hours for me to get down. Tears threatened her eyes and she turned back towards her office. She walked quickly, hoping not to be seen. As she turned the corner around the wall to the elevator area she heard "hey! Wait! Stop!" She picked up the pace, even though he feet were screaming in her new heels.

As they were returning to the stair and elevator area, Sam saw a flash of fabric round the corner. "Hey!" He put his gun up and walked quickly towards the other side of the building. Dammit! Where were they going? "Wait! Stop!"

"Sam?" Ed asked as he looked down his gun. He and Raf were each facing to the side, covering Sam.

"Someone just went to the other side. In pursuit." He quickened his pace.

"Raf, cover." Ed lowered his gun and watched the people walking down the stairs. He hoped they could get everyone out. He looked at his watch. It was going to be close, they only had an hour to get everyone down.

"Copy." Raf started moving to catch up with Sam.

Sam looked back at them. "No, I got it. You start clearing the next floor, I'll be right behind you."

"Too risky." Ed shook his head and frowned.

"No time to argue," Sam looked at his watch, "we gotta get these people out now."

Ed sighed. He didn't like it, but he knew Sam was right. "Ok. Go careful. Raf, let's start pushing their pace." They ran to the stairwell and started encouraging the people to move quicker, but still be safe.

Sam turned back and cleared each side of the opening before he went left.

#####

Elaine's breath was coming in gasps. She'd already turned her ankle once so she kicked off her shoes and walked as quickly as she could to her office at the end of the long hall. She opened her door, walked in and crawled under her desk. Whatever was happening she would ride it out here and if the building fell, well, who would care?

A minute or two later she heard someone coming down the hall and tried to quiet her breath. The outer wall of her office was frosted glass and she watched a dark figure with what looked like a gun walk down the hall slowly. She pulled her head back under the desk and wrapped her arms around her legs. Please don't find me, she thought, please just go. She was embarrassed to be hiding under her desk like this, but she didn't have a choice.

#####

Sam stopped when he heard a small scraping noise. He looked to his left and tried to see into the office, but the frosted glass made it difficult. He was about to look away when he saw a slight movement under the desk. He looked at the door and saw that it opened in. He slid over to it so that he was against the wall next to the door, put a hand on the knob and turned it slowly. He pushed it open hard and rushed in the room, his gun pointed at the desk. "SRU! Come out!" His body tensed when there wasn't any movement. "Get out from under the desk now!" He commanded.

She looked up as silent tears slipped down her cheeks. Fuck. He found her. When he gave the command again she jumped. "Ok." She said quietly. She wiped her face with her hand and crawled out from under the desk. She put her left foot up and using her chair pushed herself up with a grunt. God that sucked.

He frowned as he watched her get up with difficulty. When she turned and straightened her blouse he saw it was the girl he saw before.

"Sam? Status." Ed asked anxiously.

"Found one person in her office. Escorting her to the stairs." Sam gave her a pointed look.

"No." Elaine put her hands up, but shook her head vehemently. "I'm fine right here. I'm not going anywhere."

"No choice. We have to evacuate this building." Sam frowned. What was her problem?

Elaine smirked. "Then you'll have to carry me down kicking and screaming." He looked her over and she rolled her eyes. Yes, I'm fat, you can't carry me, she thought angrily. "Do whatever you gotta do, but I'm staying here."

"Sam. She's trying to sound brave, but it's covering fear. Something's up." Greg could hear it in her voice. Was she an accomplice? "Search her."

"Ok, first I just need to make sure that we're both safe. Do you have anything on you I should worry about?" Sam stepped closer to you and she took a step back, fear reaching her eyes.

"I don't have any weapons." She frowned deeply. Understanding suddenly dawned. Of course he was suspicious of her, she ran from the evacuation. Even though he was very handsome, she didn't want him to put his hands on her and feel the body she hid under her clothes. "I'll turn my pockets out very slowly." When he nodded, she turned them out.

"Lift your shirt and turn around."

"Excuse you?" She looked at him incredulously.

Sam sighed and let his MP5 hang from his chest. "Look, I'm not here to hurt you. I need to know that you don't have any weapons." He held her gaze. "Can I search you?" He could've searched her forcefully, but there was something about the look in her eyes that made him try asking her first. When she nodded, he gently patted her waist and legs before he stepped back. When he did her face was red and her eyes watery. He frowned. Was it something he did? "Are you ok?" He asked gently.

She blew out a breath and stepped back from him, covertly wiping her eyes. "Yes. I'm ok. So now that you know I'm not dangerous you can go and take care of whatever is." She waved her hand to the door.

He cocked his head to the side. "Do you know why we're here today?"

"No. Just that we're supposed to evacuate. There are rumors of course, but I never listen to it." She sat in her chair and pulled herself close to the desk, hiding her stomach under the desk. She desperately wanted to pull on her blouse to pull it from her body so it wasn't sticking to it, but she forced herself not to. "So, thanks for checking on me but you should probably go save the rest of the people here."

"What about you?" Sam narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't like the way she was talking. He believed her, she wasn't involved, but why was she trying to get rid of him.

"Speed this up Sam. Time's ticking on the bomb." Greg was silent for a moment. "What do you think?"

"All good here." Sam said into his headset.

"The others checking on you?" Elaine tipped her head to the side and looked at the black earpiece in his ear.

"Yeah. They're just worried about us." He watched her for a moment. "You didn't answer my question."

"Why are you still here?" She asked, a little anger tinged her words.

"I'll answer yours if you answer mine."

"Fine. Go ahead."

"Because it's my job to make sure everyone evacuates the building."

"So go do it." She rolled her eyes at him. Why wouldn't he leave her in peace?

"I said everyone. Why don't you want to leave?"

She huffed out a breath. "Doesn't matter. Just go. Please."

"I don't think I asked your name." He raised his brows.

"Elaine." She leaned forward and looked at his chest. "Officer.. Braddock."

"Yeah. My name's Sam." He smiled easily at her. "Elaine, I can help you."

"You have more important things to do." She insisted.

"Nope. Right where I need to be right now." He walked back to the wall and leaned against it.

"If you think you can out stubborn me, you are sadly mistaken." Elaine chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know, we French can be pretty stubborn." He shrugged.

"Yeah well, I'm part German. No one more stubborn." She crossed her arm across her chest.

"Sam, Jules just bought us some time. The subject has disabled the timer, but the bomb is still live. He can remote detonate it." Spike said desperately. He hated that Sam was stuck up there like this. "Just pick her up and carry her. We don't have time for this."

"We're still good." Sam nodded at her for which she rolled her eyes. He studied her for a moment. "You know, we had to hoof it up all 30 flights to get up here. I thought I was dying." He said with emphasis. He saw a flicker in her eyes and knew he'd guessed right. He was sure that being her size would make it hard for her to walk down all those steps.

Her face reddened and her eyes flashed. "I see. The fat girl probably can't walk down all those stairs. Typical." She looked away, forcing the tears not to come.

Sam pushed himself off the wall. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."

She shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"No one should ever get used to being put down." He tipped his head to the side, trying to catch her eye. "I'm sorry you've had that in your life."

Elaine stood and stalked to the door. She flung it open and walked down the hall. She knew the stairs we're going to kill her, but anything to get away from his pity.

"Hey, hold on. Elaine." He hurried after her, but put his hand up to cover his face. "We're coming down."

"Go easy here Sam. Touchy subject." Greg nodded.

"Copy." He whispered and switched to a run to catch up with her now that she'd gone around the corner. "Elaine!" When he caught up she was at the top of the stairs, looking down the middle of the stairwell at all the stairs between her and the bottom, a defeated look on her face. "Hey, just look at this set of stairs. One level at a time."

Her eyes flicked to the stairs in front of them and she nodded numbly. She stepped down with her left leg and brought her right down. She did this for the first flight before he talked to her.

"You're doing great." He smiled. He didn't touch her as she went down the steps, he just stayed next to her in case she needed to steady herself. He watched her do the next flight the same way and had to ask. "Is your left knee injured?"

"I found an Elaine Ville that works for Samson, Zingerman and Feinstein. Law firm on that side of the building." Wordy said into his headset.

"Ok, yup." Sam watched her start her third flight. It was for her and Wordy.

"She's had several falls over the last couple months. Two on stairs, one in her driveway and another at work. She claimed she stubbed her toe on a loose piece of carpet. Landed on her left knee each time."

"Have you fallen on that knee?" He asked when she stopped at the bottom of the flight.

She nodded, trying to catch her breath and give her knee a break.

"We're going to take this easy then. Take a break whenever you need to." He tentatively put a hand on her shoulder. He was glad that she didn't pull away.

"Just go," she pointed down the stairs, "you're wasting time. I'm not going to fall again." She hoped. She'd been on the meds for nearly a month now.

He gave her an incredulous look. "I need you to keep me from falling." He put a hand to his chest.

Elaine snorted. "Please. I know ego stroking when I hear it."

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. We go down together. That's the only option." He looked her straight in the eye.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes at him and started down the next flight. He legs were already starting to ache. Just hold out legs, hold me up, she thought.

Sam smiled when she started down the next flight. She wasn't kidding, she was very friggin stubborn. "So, you work for the law firm up there?"

"Yeah."

"How long have you been there?"

"Three years. It's a prestigious firm so I jumped at the chance when they held interviews at the law school." She huffed as she got to the landing of her fifth flight and stopped.

"Yeah I hear they're the top attorneys in the province. That's awesome they hired you. Very impressive." He was keeping his tone light, but he was worried about her knee. She was starting to limp with her right because she was overusing it.

"Thanks." She smiled and stepped down the next flight normally even though it was a scary struggle. She went slow, but on some steps down she felt like she might fall. Her legs were really achy now and she wondered how much longer they'd hold her up. All the way to the bottom, she told herself.

He put his arm up behind her and matched her rhythm when he saw she was less steady this way. When she stopped at the landing he knew he had to ask, even though she didn't want him to. "How are your legs doing? Mine are feeling the burn." He smiled.

"They're ok." She nodded and forced a smile.

She only took a short break this time and he stepped in front of her. "Take another minute. We've got all the time in the world."

"Nope." She couldn't stop. She wouldn't let her legs fail her. Two flights this time, she thought.

"You don't have to prove anything to me Elaine." Sam said as she stepped down the next flight one legged and moved right to the next.

Elaine looked at him. "The only person I need to prove anything to is myself. I'm getting down these stairs today and no one is going to stop me."

He looked at her for a moment and was impressed. "Alright, let's do this." He smiled. She did the next two flights without stopping and was smiling as she turned to go down the third. She suddenly collapsed before she could make it to the stairs.

Sam saw her falling, grabbed her waist and pulled her to him so that he rolled under and took the brunt of the fall. He grunted when her elbow went into his gut.

"Sam? Status." Wordy asked.

"We're ok. Just took a little spill." Sam turned his head and looked at her, she had her face buried in his chest.

It surprised her when he grabbed onto her and pulled her to him. Why would he do that? She was a complete stranger.

She was really grateful though as she knew she was probably going into hurt herself again. She was also embarrassed as she was now lying on top of him. She felt her face burn. She wasn't sure how to get up without hurting him.

"You ok?" He pulled her brown hair back from her face. He could see on her face that she wasn't sure what to do. He rolled them to the side and gently laid her on the floor. He sat up and put a hand on her arm. "Elaine?"

Wow. He was very gentle when he paced her on her side on the floor. She thought for sure he would just push her off him. She put a hand down on the floor when he said her name and pushed herself up to a seated position. She looked down at her legs and bit her lip to keep from crying.

"Elaine. Answer me. Are you ok?" He'd removed his hand when she sat up but he put it back on her hand on her leg.

She nodded. God damned legs. God damned body. She moved to her knees, put her left leg up then used her arms to push herself up and get her right toe on the floor. She tried to make her legs push herself up, but they wouldn't listen. She gritted her teeth and growled as she tried again, still not able to stand.

"Ok, just rest for a couple minutes." He said reassuringly. She sat back on her butt and they sat in silence while she sniffed and wouldn't look at him. "This started a couple months ago didn't it?" He asked quietly, watching her.

"What? How?" Elaine looked at him confused.

He took a breath through his nose and released it. "It's what we do. When I found you in your office we had to make sure you weren't someone we should worry about. My teammate found a record that said you'd fallen a couple times."

"How deep did you look?" She wiped her eyes.

"I only know about the falls. Was there more?" He probed.

Elaine moved so she had her back against the railings and sighed. "Three months ago I called into work, sick. It was the first time in the three years at the firm that I took a sick day. Hell I barely use my vacation time before the end of the year. Suddenly I'm sitting on my couch and I can't move, because I can't see. I had double vision so bad that I couldn't tell whether the carpet was on the floor or the ceiling."

"I'm sorry. That must've been so scary."

She scoffed and wiped her eyes. "Ha, yeah. So I ended up going to the ER, then saw my doc, had bunch of tests, gave them a gallon of blood." When he chuckled she looked at him. "And guess what?"

"MS?" He asked. The symptoms sounded familiar to his cousin.

"Multiple, fucking sclerosis." A tear tracked down her cheek and she didn't bother to wipe it away. "I'm 26." She whispered, as if it was a secret. It wasn't.

"I'm sorry." He knew there wasn't much he could say that would make the degenerative disease better. He saw her tip her head back and close her eyes. After a few minutes of silence, letting her rest and be alone with her thoughts, he broke the silence. "Elaine, open your eyes."

With a frown she tipped her head down looked at him.

"No, put your head back the way it was, and look up."

She raised a brow at him and he gave her an annoyed look. She put her head back and looked up.

He moved next to sit next to her and looked up with her. "Look at what you've accomplished already." He ignored her when she looked at him. "You've already walked down all of those flights of stairs." He looked at her. "You. Can. Do. This."

Wordy and Greg held their breaths a little. They needed Sam to get her moving. Negotiations were starting to break down with the subject and they were the last two in the building.

"What if I go up and we carry her down?" Raf asked over the comms.

"I need you where you are Raf. If this guy decides to run, he's running your way." Greg shook his head.

More tears tracked down her cheeks as she looked up at the ten flights she'd already walked down. She wiped her face and looked at him. "Thank you."

"It's all you." Sam stood and held his hands out to her. "We go down together. No other option."

She put her hands in his and her feet against his. When he pulled she pushed with her legs. She grabbed the railing when she stood as her legs were still rubbery. She looked down the stairwell, looked at him and smiled. "No other option."

They made it down five more flights before her legs gave out again. This time when she tried to stand she couldn't. Her legs were done. She stole a look at him and could see he was patiently waiting, but his face was tense.

When she collapsed this time Sam knew her legs were done. She couldn't walk down these steps on her own. He wondered if she could do it if he held her up. He'd encouraged her to try to stand after a fifteen minute break, but she couldn't. He wasn't sure, but he could try a fireman's carry. He was just about to suggest it when he heard shouting over the his comm. things had been going well, but when the subject decided to surrender, an accomplice suddenly screamed from the sidelines "Vive le revolution!" His heart started pounding. He turned to her and picked her up, one arm under her legs, the other around her waist. "Gotta go."

Elaine squeaked when he picked her up and was surprised at how easily it seemed. "Oh, uh.."

He made it down a flight before they heard a deafening boom and the building shook. He dropped to his knees on the floor and covered her as they free fell for what seemed like forever. Both were screaming as the building started falling around them.

This is it. I'm going to die, she thought. It felt like the world was crashing down around them. They landed with a thump and she felt something in her back crack. She grunted with the pain and heard him grunt too except that his head went forward and he hit his forehead on the concrete next to her. She looked up and saw that more of the building was falling and that he was out. She knew he had fallen on top of her to protect her, but she couldn't let him die. She rolled carefully and with a sharp intake of breath when her back screamed at her.

Several pieces of debris fell on her back but she bit her lip to keep from crying out. When the shaking and falling stopped she sighed with relief. Her back hurt, but they seemed to be ok. She put a hand next to his head and was about to push off him when she felt something stab through her back. She screamed in pain and looked down at him. He was still out, but his face contorted in pain.

She heard several voices, but they sounded far away. She looked around but didn't hear anyone. She frowned. What the hell? She looked down at Sam and saw the black earpiece next to his head. She picked it up and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

##### outside #####

Greg put a hand up and then moved a finger to his lips. The team froze and looked at him. They'd heard her too and every one of them felt a stab of hope. "This is Sergeant Greg Parker, who is this?"

"Um, Elaine Ville." She said unsteadily.

"Elaine." Greg took a breath. "Are you and Sam ok?"

"Um, no. H-he hit his head and I-I think I got stabbed with something." She'd kept the tears at bay so far but the weight of what just happened, but her resolve was crumbling. She covered the mouthpiece and sniffed.

"Ok. We're coming. Just keep talking to me ok? Tell me how Sam's doing." He motioned for the team to turn off their comms. "Ok, I'll keep her on channel two, we'll be on three. Let's get coordinated with fire and ambulance. We need to get them out of there NOW." The team split and started talking to the fire and ambulance crews on the scene. He'd kept his comm on, but muted. She was talking, but he could tell that she was in a lot of pain. "Is he bleeding from his head?" He saw Ed sending a medic his way and waved him over.

##### inside #####

"No." Elaine tried to slide off of him so he could breathe easier, but she couldn't move and it was incredibly painful. She groaned. She looked down between them and saw blood dripping down next to him. "Oh no."

"Elaine? What's happening? Can you tell me what floor you're on?" Greg asked nervously. He was looking at Steve who had a concerned look on his face.

"Oh god." She looked down at Sam and could see he was starting to stir. He put his hands on her arms and was trying to push her off. "No. Sam. Stop." She put her hands on his shoulders, moved them to his upper arms and tried to push his arms down.

"Elaine. Talk to me." Greg commanded.

"Sam. Easy. You're ok." It took all of her strength to hold his arms from pushing her off and possibly killing her. She remembered from medical shows that she watched that you can't remove something impaled in you. "He's waking up."

Sam felt a weight on top of him and it made it hard to breathe. "Off. Can't. Breathe." He could hear a woman talking to him and she sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. "Jules?" His head was pounding. What the hell happened? He let go of the person on him and put a hand to his head.

"No Sam, I'm Elaine. Who's Jules?" She was glad he'd let go of her arms, but it concerned her that he seemed confused.

"Friend." It hurt to talk, but he had to find out what was going on. "Boss?" He put a hand to his ear and frowned when there wasn't anything there.

"Here." She took the earpiece from her ear and leaned forward to put it in his ear. The world started to spin so she put it in his hand and moved back.

Sam opened his eyes and looked at her. She was close to passing out, but when she moved back after she gave him the earpiece he saw her eyes clear. He frowned and out the earpiece in. "Boss? Everyone ok?"

Greg sighed with relief. "Yeah Sam. Just you two inside. You guys doing ok?"

"Um, headache. Possible concussion. Not sure about, uh, Elaine. Hey, stay awake." He looked at her and saw that she was blacking out. He shook her shoulder slightly and felt it move something in his stomach. He put his hand down to his stomach and felt something bumpy and metal there. He followed it up and felt it in her upper stomach. When he brought his hand back it was covered in blood. "Boss, we need to get out of here ASAP."

"What's going on Sam?" Greg didn't like the fear in Sam's voice.

"We've been impaled." Sam looked at Elaine and saw the fear register in her eyes. "We're going to be ok. Just stay still." He reassured her.


	2. Chapter 2

##### outside #####

Steve saw Greg pale and he stepped towards him. He took the earpiece without asking and stuck it on his ear. "Sam? It's Steve. What are your injuries?" What he heard next set his heart racing.

"We're impaled by rebar. I hit my head, but it's ok." Sam tried not to sound weak but it wasn't working. He looked at Elaine and saw that she'd passed out. "Elaine, eyes open." He tapped her cheek.

"Yeah, you have to keep yourselves awake Sam. And when you say 'we're impaled'.." Steve asked worriedly.

"It went through her upper stomach and into my lower stomach. She took the brunt of it." Sam groaned.

Steve looked at Greg and took off towards the building, not caring that he still had the headset. He'd need it to keep talking to Sam.

Greg ran into the truck and grabbed another headset. He realized Spike was looking at him, terror in his eyes. He'd heard. "Why aren't you on channel two Spike?" He asked softly.

"I wanted to hear…" Spike looked at the screen in front of him that showed the crumbled building. Lucky for Sam and Elaine, the bomb was in the opposite side of the building, so that side had collapsed, but they were still under a pile of rubble. The top floors had toppled to the side where the bomb went off. It'd been perfectly placed on a support beam. What was left was rebar and debris on top of the remaining floors on that side of the building.

"Spike." Greg whispered. "We aren't losing them. We'll get them out."

"Spike. We're ok. You hear me?" Sam tried to make his voice normal, but it came out filled with the pain he felt.

After a moment, Spike answered. "I hear ya. Don't think this is getting you out of our moviefest pig out." He smiled weakly.

##### inside #####

"Not a chance." Sam smiled. He looked at Elaine and could see the pain reflected in her eyes. "I know this is a dumb question, but are you doing ok?" He asked her.

The pain in her back and stomach was excruciating, but she put on a smile. "Uh, yeah. Sorry we're stuck like this. I wish I could pull back a little so you can breathe easier."

"It's not your fault." He reassured her. "Steve?"

"Yeah Sam?" Steve stopped.

"Can we try to move so that we're side by side?" Sam strained. He was really having trouble breathing and was pretty sure he broke a couple ribs when they landed. His chest hurt when he breathed and he saw her struggling too. This was bad.

"No! I'm sorry but if you try to move you could tear the wound and make it bleed more. Just lay still and breathe. We're coming to you very soon." Steve said suddenly.

"Ok. We're good." Sam nodded. "Elaine, you need to slow your breathing, ok. Breathe in, hold, 2, 3, 4 out." He kept eye contact with her and saw that she was relaxing a little.

Elaine was shaking, even though the breathing exercise was helping to calm her. She had her arms down on the floor on either side of his head holding herself up off his chest to help him breathe. She could feel that the blood wasn't dripping as much out of their wound. She knew it'd started to clot which was a good thing. God she had to stop watching those medical shows! She kept eye contact with him while she breathed. After a few minutes she had the pain more under control and so did he. "So.." She smiled shyly and rolled her eyes. "Come here often?"

Sam laughed softly but stopped when they both winced. "No, this is the first. They got good food here?"

"Good Sam. Keep it light. It'll keep your minds off of it." Greg smiled.

"Ugh, no it's terrible. Have you ever had shit on a shingle?" She smiled when he shook his head. "It's supposed to be chipped beef on toast, but it's really shit."

He looked at her worriedly. "You're shaking."

"Just a little." She minimized.

"Is she cold?" Steve asked as he watched Team One and the firemen work on opening a collapsed wall.

"Are you cold?" Sam asked, eyeing her. He looked to the side, moving his head slightly as it was pounding and saw that her arm was shaking. He hadn't noticed that she was holding herself up off him. "Relax your arms. It's ok to lay on me."

Her eyes filled and she shook her head. "No it isn't. I'm too heavy. I'll hurt you." She knew it was only like six inches, but it kept her rib cage from pressing on his. He must've hurt his when they landed, probably because her big stupid body landed on his. Her guilt kept her from laying back down on him. When he was about to say something she cut him off. "So, where are you from?" She smiled a bit and said it with a hint of amusement.

"Nice try." Sam gave her a lopsided grin. He appreciated that she didn't want to hurt him, but he knew with her MS she wouldn't be able to hold herself up for forever. He also knew she was too stubborn so he conceded. "Fine, but you'll have to give your arms a rest some time." He gave a small sigh and said. "I was born in Ottawa. I have two sisters and my parents still live in Ottawa, we'll, my mom does full time. My dad is in the Army."

"Aah, I thought I sensed some Army brat in you." She picked one arm up off the floor and it tingled.

"Brat huh?" He raised a brow at her.

Elaine raised the arm up further off the floor and showed a small space between two of her fingers.

"You're talking to the wrong Braddock, that's my sister." Sam snorted.

"Which one? You said you have two." When she saw the pain cross his expressive blue eyes she felt guilty. "Oh, sorry." She looked away.

He put a hand up and turned her face to him. "It's not your fault. I was talking about my youngest sister Natalie. My other sister, Sarah, died when we were young."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Elaine shook her head and switched arms.

"Nothing for you to be sorry for, I brought her up." Sam reassured her. He frowned when he saw panic fill her face.

"I'm, my arm is going to give out, I'm so sorry." Her arm was shaking like crazy, but she lowered herself down so that her head and most of her chest was on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat speed up and heard a stifled groan.

##### outside #####

Every available person was working to get an opening in the wall. Once they had a stable opening, Team One had to be restrained from going in by the fire department, which wasn't an easy task. Greg hated it, but he had to order the team to stay put.

Jules let a tear slip as she watched Steve, his partner and two firemen rushed inside. Please let them be ok, she pleaded the cosmos. Please don't let Sam die. It killed her to think that Sam might die. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't deny their attraction. She still cared about what happened to him, even though they weren't together. She felt an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to Wordy.

"They'll get them out. He'll be ok." Wordy said reassuringly although he wasn't that sure himself.

Spike put a hand on Wordy's shoulder and nodded when Wordy looked at him. He didn't feel the confidence Wordy or the Boss did, but he felt Wordy's strength flowing through him and it helped.

"Sam, what floor were you on before it blew?" Steve asked as they started making their way through the debris. They went in through the side of the building and according to the floor plans, they should be near the elevator, but everything was crushed or toppled. It was difficult to orient himself.

"Fourteen." Sam breathed. He was sniper breathing, but it wasn't helping. They needed out now. "Steve.."

"Yeah? You breathing ok?" Steve didn't like the sound of Sam's rapid breathing.

"No. Out. Now."

"We're coming Sam! Hold on!" Steve rushed forward and started frantically looking for the telltale metal fragments of the stair railing. A moment later he saw some sticking out from under a block of concrete. He pounded his fist on the concrete and started yelling. "Sam! Elaine! Can you hear me? SAM! Can you hear me?"

He'd forged ahead and when he started yelling his partner and the fire department ran to him, making a lot of noise. He put a hand up and shushed them. "No! Quiet! I can't hear. Sam! Elaine! Can you hear me?"

They waited with baited breath until they heard a strained voice yell, "yes! Here! Hurry!"

##### inside #####

Elaine let the tears fall when she heard the voice on the other side of the wall five feet to her left. They needed to get out right now. Sam needed help, now. He'd said those few words into the headset and then passed out. She knew it was because of her body on his and she could not let him die. "Sam. Please wake up. I need you to wake up." She lightly tapped his face with her fingers then smoothed his cheek. "Come on Sam. I need you here." She sniffed.

"Your friends need you. All of those people outside need you. Your family. Those Special Forces friends of yours? The ones you told me about? They need you. You're so brave, and incredibly strong to survive two tours like you did. You are an honorable man Sam and the world needs more people like you." She stroked his face, hoping to rouse him. She took the earpiece and put it in her ear. She could hear heavy breathing and people sniffing. Now was the time, she had to save him. With a muffled grunt, she lifted herself up on one arm and took some of the pressure off of his ribs. It felt like forever until he took a breath. She pulled in a breath and turned her head to the side to cough. She inhaled sharply at the blood on her hand.

"Elaine?"

"He's breathing. Sam? You're gonna be ok, but I need you to open your eyes for me." Elaine gave a small laugh of relief, leaned to one side and put her free hand on his cheek.

"Ok. Yeah, you gotta wake him up. We don't want him falling asleep with a concussion. It's probably the blood loss. How're you feeling?" Steve asked . He'd stepped away from where the firemen were using pry bars and jacks to open the wall.

"I'm good." She said distractedly. She put her free hand back on the floor and pushed herself further away from him. It hurt like hell, she was sure she was moving on the rebar, but it had to be done. He had to survive. She knew for a fact that she would've been on the top floor when the bomb went off if he hadn't irritated her and made her leave. He encouraged and talked to her on the way down. He made her see that she could do it and that he would be with her the whole way, that wouldn't abandon her. "You're my hero Sam Braddock." She sniffed and leaned to the other side so she could tap his cheek. "Please wake up. You promised that we would do this together and," she looked down and scoffed, "well, uh, you're stuck with me. I will not leave here without you Sam. You're not done yet, and neither am I. We have so much to do, you and I." She made a face at him, "not together, don't get a big head about it, you're cute and all, but you're not really my type.."

##### outside #####

Jules chuckled as she listened to Elaine, even through the tears.

"...there's marriage and kids, grandkids. Wake up, please." Elaine begged and sniffed. She reached down, took his hand and held it up over his heart. "Open those gorgeous blue eyes,"

"I thought I," Sam coughed, "wasn't your type."

Jules collapsed to her knees when she heard his voice and covered her mouth with her hands. She slid her hands over her face and sobbed. He was alive. A moment later she felt four arms around her and two bodies holding her while they all cried.

Ed looked to the sky, tears streaming down his face, hands on his hips. He didn't move when he felt Greg pull him into a hug and Raf joined them. Each of them had been touched by Elaine's words and they wondered if she knew how true they were.

##### inside #####

With a chuckle, Elaine squeezed his hand. "You aren't you cocky bugger." She looked to the wall, she could see that they were starting to break through. She looked back at him and his eyes were closed. "Hey! Open your eyes."

Sam opened his eyes to see angry hazel eyes looking at him. "I was just resting my eyes." He heard sounds to his right and saw that someone was breaking through the wall. Thank god. She needed to get into surgery now.

"Uh huh. Keep your eyes OPEN." She gave him an annoyed look then looked to the side. "They're almost here." She looked back at him. "We're getting out of here soon. You'll be ok. We just need to get to surgery and they'll fix you."

"Fix us." Sam didn't like her tone. Why wasn't she including herself? "We're both getting out if this." She looked away and he became worried. Was she hurting herself by lifting off of him? He saw her arms next to his head out of his periphery. He turned his hand, tightened his grip on her hand and reached out for the other one.

She let a small smile play on her lips when he changed his hand and tightened it, but she frowned at him when he grabbed onto her other arm. She tried to pull her hand on his chest away but he tightened his grip. "What're you doing?"

"Relax your arms." He said firmly.

"No. Look, they're almost here. Stop." She frowned deeper as he slid his hand up to her elbow. She pulled on her hand on his chest again. Damn he had a hard grip, she thought. "Don't." She could feel the tears welling. "Please. The world needs you. No one needs me. If I lay on you again it will kill you. They're almost here," she gasped at the pain shooting through her stomach, it hurt so unbelievably, "just need to hold on a few more minutes." When she looked down at him, a small trickle of blood slipped out of her mouth.

He looked her directly in the eye, blue eyes locked on green flecked brown ones. "We go together. No other option." He gently pushed on her elbow, causing her to slowly fall back down on his chest. He put his arms around her and hugged her as they both slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

"Sam! Elaine!" Steve sprinted the five feet to his two patients. There were small pools of blood on either side of them which worried him. There should be way more blood. He kneeled next to them and slowly lifted her stomach up so he could see the rebar between them. He sat back on his knees. Oh god, this is bad.

##### 9 hours later #####

Jules sat at her dining room table, shoulders slumped, her eyes red-rimmed, but dry. She felt like she'd been crying for days and there was still so much more in her. She couldn't understand why the universe could be so cruel. She didn't hear the footsteps that approached or see the mug of steaming coffee until it was in front of her.

"When was the last time you slept? And I mean really slept?" Greg asked as he sat down next to her. He knew he didn't look any better than she did. He'd seen his raccoon eyes in his reflection of the toaster. He looked like death warmed over.

"I kinda slept for a few hours in the hospital." She lifted a shoulder.

"With your head back against the wall or on the arm of the chair? That's not sleep. You need to sleep, in a bed. He would want you to take care of yourself. Please, go up to bed and try to get some sleep." Greg begged. If he looked like death warmed over, she looked like death reheated and refried.

"I can't." She shook her head and the tears started again. She wished she could go back to the beginning of the day and warn them not to go on that call. She couldn't get the image of Sam and Elaine embracing each other on the stretcher with rebar poking out of Elaine's back. It was a horrific injury. If only Sam had taken the woman at gunpoint to the stairs or they could've made an exception and let them ride the elevator down. If only she hadn't failed at the negotiations with the subject. If only the subject had hinted at an accomplice. The if-onlys were killing her.

"Every one of us did everything we could today. Sam wouldn't want us to dwell on it." Greg put a hand on his.

She glared at him and pulled her hand away. "Stop talking like that."

"Like what?" He raised his brows at her.

"Like he died. Sam is alive." Jules brushed the tears from her cheeks.

"Why are you acting like he did?" Greg asked pointedly. He'd offered to take Jules home once they were told Sam and Elaine were out of surgery and were stable. He could see how deeply it hurt her to see Sam so close to death. How deeply it would wound her soul to lose him.

"Oh god." She cried, put her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands. "We could've lost him. It was so horrible, their injury. He said they were impaled, but I wasn't expecting- They almost lost both of them when they separated them. I don't know, what I would do-" she continued to talk but it came out as jibberish through the tears and sobs.

Greg pulled her into his arms and held her while she cried. It was a stab to the heart to see her hurting like this. The breakup had been really tough for Sam, but she'd been able to hide it from everyone, except him that is. They'd spent many nights sitting at this table and talking over coffee. She'd ranted and raved and cried at the injustice of it, and he'd let her, but she always came back to the same thoughts. Team One was her family and something she'd worked damned hard for, it would kill her even more to lose that. At least they could still be friends, maybe even best friends.

Jules finally pulled back from him and wiped her face. She went into the living room and returned after she'd blown her nose a couple times. She sat back in her chair, not looking at him.

"We can't dwell on what could've happened Jules. He's alive and with our help he's going to make it. We'll make sure of that."

"I know." She nodded and hugged Greg again. It felt good to have a father figure around to care for her like the Boss does. That was her last coherent thought as she drifted off to sleep, safe in her surrogate father's arms.

##### 1 week later #####

He was breathing hard and it hurt his chest and stomach to be breathing like that, but he wasn't going to give up until someone told him something. "So? Where is she? Is she ok?" Sam was sitting on the edge of the bed, ready to try to stand again and walk the halls until he found Elaine's room. She couldn't be dead. He wouldn't let himself believe that. He'd woken up about ten minutes earlier and had been pushing the call button for the nurse like it was an Olympic event.

"Who Sam? Jules? She went to the cafeteria for a sec. She'll be right back." Spike stood next to Sam, ready to make him stay in the bed with more force if he had to. When he first woke up, Sam asked the usual questions, but after he remembered what happened he hadn't stopped calling for the nurse and trying to get out of bed. "Do you have to go to the bathroom? You have a catheter in, just go."

Sam looked up at Spike and frowned. "I don't even.. want to know..how you know..that." He took several breaths and smiled when he saw a nurse coming. "'Bout time."

"Sam! So glad to see you awake, but what are you doing out of bed?" She swiftly moved in and got Sam tucked back into bed before he knew what was happening. "What's your pain level?"

"Like 8, but where is she?" Sam waved a hand at her question, like he was shooing a fly.

"Ok, I'll get the doctor and grab you some pain meds." She looked at her watch. "You're almost due again anyway. And who were you looking for?"

He rolled his eyes while she was jibber-jabbering and waited as patiently as he could for her to stop talking. "Elaine. Ville. We came in together." That was the last thing he remembered. He made her lay on him and they both passed out just as the wall near them was crumbling. The rest was a blank except for the one time he saw Matt in the operating room.

"Elaine. Oh, yes." She shook her head sadly.

"No, she," Sam shook his head, "she couldn't be gone. Matt said she was going to be ok. We both were."

"You saw Matt?" Spike stepped forward. He'd stepped back to let the nurse work, but he waited at the end of the bed.

"Yeah. Operating room. It seemed..so real. They'd just cut the..rebar between us and..put her on her own gurney. They took her away.. and when I yelled for... them to stop Matt was... standing next to me.. and told me that we… were both going to.. be ok." A tear slipped down his cheek.

"So you were outside your body?" The nurse raised a brow. She'd heard many patients talk about near death experiences. She was actually starting to write a book about the stories without using the patient's names or describing them to keep their privacy.

"I was standing off.. to the side." Sam nodded.

"Wow." The nurse smiled, then left the room, promising to return. She needed to write this down.

"Wait. She didn't say… " Sam looked after the nurse.

"It's ok, Sam. Elaine is actually next door. She's doing ok, but she's still in a coma. You've both been out since your surgeries." Spike answered. "The rebar went through one of her kidneys, some intestine and her stomach. She's in for a long, hard road."

"Damn." Sam looked up at the ceiling and put a hand to his stomach and the bandages. He smiled and looked at Spike. "She's too stubborn.. not to make it… I want to see her."

Spike shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, you need to rest Sam. You need to recover too. The rebar punctured your intestine." He was about to say more when the doctor and nurse walked in.

"Hi. I'm Doctor Pulaski," the young blonde woman smiled, "how're you feeling Sam? Ivy says your pain is at an 8?"

"Yeah. Stomach and chest hurt..like hell." Sam nodded and clenched his jaw with the pain it caused. Sitting up and trying to stand up had done nothing for his headache. "Head too."

"Ok. Ivy?" She looked at the nurse who pushed a med into his IV. "That should take effect pretty quickly. I don't know if you know this," she looked at Spike who shook his head, "but the two of you fell about twenty feet, two flights, and kind of rode the debris down to the third floor. I'm not sure how you survived that, but when you landed you impacted into Miss Ville, broke four ribs and bruised five more. That's why it's hard to breathe.

You also hit your forehead and have a mid-level concussion. So, it was lucky for you that Miss Ville was on top of you because she bore the brunt of the rebar impalement. It went through her body and was only about six inches into your stomach. We had to take out some of your small and a bit of your large intestine. We have a ton of small intestine in our lower stomach, so that won't affect you. And, we only had to take a few inches of your large intestine, so we didn't have to give you a colostomy. You shouldn't have any lasting effects from that." She stopped when she saw Sam frowning. "What?"

"I was on top... When the bomb… went off I… covered her. How?" Sam looked at Spike confused.

"I don't know, but you were damn lucky." Spike lifted his brows. His eyes watered at the thought that Elaine changed their positions and saved Sam from serious injury. He stepped back from the bed and walked to the hall to call the team.

"We'll have to wait and see what she says if she wakes up." Dr. Pulaski shrugged.

"If?" Sam frowned.

"What?" Dr. Pulaski looked at Ivy, avoiding his eyes.

"You said if she… wakes up." His heart kicked up a notch.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but she was very seriously injured. The rebar did a lot of damage and she's fighting an infection. She's fighting for her life." The Doctor explained, empathy in her eyes.

"Please. I have to.. see her. Have to talk… to her." Sam tried to sit up, but he could feel the pain med taking effect and he laid back, instantly asleep.

Jules sprinted into Sam's room when she saw the doctor and nurse talks to him. He's awake! Oh thank you thank you! She walked in just as he laid back and was asleep in seconds. "Doctor?" She looked at the blonde woman when she stopped at the end of the bed.

"We gave him some strong pain meds, but he was awake and talking. It's an excellent sign. He really wanted to talk to the woman that came in with him, but he needs to stay in bed." She said with some force. Her face softened when she looked down at Sam. "She saved his life." She looked at Jules, her eyes watery. "I'll see what I can do about a short visit later tonight."

"Thank you doctor." Jules smiled, then moved around the bed and sat next to Sam. She took his hand in hers and just held it while he slept, needing the contact.

##### five hours later #####

Sam could hear quiet voices, but they weren't loud enough to discern who was who. He felt that his hand was being held and looked to the side. He smiled when he saw Jules' sleeping on the mattress next to their entwined hands.

"Sam?" Greg stepped forward when he saw that Sam was awake. He looked behind him and said, "Wordy."

With a frown, Sam watched Wordy leave the room. "How long have… I been asleep?" Oh damn, he hurt all over. He put his other hand on his stomach. "How long?"

"Five hours. For you and Jules." Greg smiled.

"How do you feel Sam?" Ed asked.

"Ok." Sam looked down at Jules and saw that she was deep in sleep. He worried about her having her neck in that one position for so long. He loosened his fingers and gently removed his hand from hers. She stirred when he did that and he put a hand on her neck. "Jules." He whispered. "You gotta go home... and go to bed."

"Hmm?" Jules lifted her head and frowned, but she hissed in pain and put her hand to her neck. It was stiff and sore.

"Easy." Sam rubbed her neck.

"Ugh." Jules sat up and turned her neck to the sides. She looked up at Sam and realized it was his hand massaging her neck. He gave the best massages. She looked at him affectionately and with concern. "Hey. You doing ok?"

"I'm ok. You?" Sam didn't like the haunted look in her eyes and the dark circles under them. She looked like she'd been through hell.

"I'm glad to see you awake." Jules nodded. Now that she could see his eyes and that he was really ok, she was exhausted.

Ed stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon Jules. You need to get some rest."

Without an argument, Jules stood, smiled at Sam then turned and left with Ed. Before they left Ed murmured a few encouraging words to Sam and put a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Thanks Ed." Sam smiled at his mentor. After Ed and Jules left, Sam looked to the door when it opened again. He frowned when he saw another bed being pushed into the room. When they turned the bed and he saw Elaine, a small smile lit his face. He looked at Greg and Wordy, who'd re-joined them, with deep could see that she was still unconscious, and there were bandages covering her upper chest peeking out from the blanket pulled to her neck.

They stopped the bed right next to his so that he could reach out and put his hand on hers. "Hey Elaine. It's Sam. Remember? You were stuck with me whether you liked it or not? Well you're still stuck with me." He smiled slightly and pushed the button to lift his top half up. He looked at her lying there and his heart was heavy. She'd saved him. A complete stranger protected him, not the other way around.

When he was quiet for several moment, Greg tipped his head down to catch his eye. "Sam?"

Sam lifted his head. "Why would she.. do that? I had laid on… her to protect her.. and she flipped us.. over. I should've gotten the…worst of it."

"Sometimes protectors need protecting." Greg shrugged. He watched Sam and could see he was mulling this over.

"I wish you could… know how much it… means to me that… you would do that… for me." Sam's eyes watered and he wiped them with his free hand. "You're really stuck… with me now."

The nurse, Ivy, wiped her eyes as she listened to Sam speak to the woman that saved him. She sent up a silent prayer that the woman's courageous and selfless act wouldn't end up being the ultimate sacrifice.

##### two weeks after rescue #####

"What's the patient from 1501 doing in 1502?" Harley asked curiously as she watched the blonde man in a wheelchair sitting next to the woman's bed, not saying anything, just holding her hand. "Are they married?"

"Nope." Ivy smiled as she worked on the computer.

"Dating?" Harley turned to face the other nurse. This was her first day on the med/surg/ICU floor so she was getting to know the patients and their needs.

"No. She doesn't have any family. He goes in there every day and sits with her, sometimes he talks to her, sometimes he just holds her hand." Ivy looked over the counter at the sweet scene in front of them.

"Why?" Harley raised a brow. She didn't get it. The guy was gorgeous (she'd watched him wheel himself into the woman's room). What was he doing with a heffalump like her?

"Do you remember that article about the two people pulled from the rubble of the Murray Building a couple weeks ago? It was bombed by two former employees of the aeronautics firm on the tenth floor?" Ivy looked at the new girl with mirth.

"Yeah. It was an officer and a woman that didn't get out in time and they got impaled by rebar." Harley's face lit up and she looked at the man and woman with new eyes. "It said that he had jumped on top of her to protect her but she'd switched it and took the worst of the impalement."

"Yep." Ivy smiled broadly.

"Wow." Harley breathed. It was amazing that the woman would do that, she thought. She smiled at them before she turned to do something else. What a friendship that would forge, she thought. They'd be linked forever by the rebar that impaled them.

##### Elaine's room #####

"I'm breathing easier now. I can… get more out before I have… to take a breath. It'll take… awhile before my ribs mend and... one punctured my lung so that… has to heal." Sam looked up at her face. It was good to see her color coming back. She'd been so pale for the last couple weeks. They said that once she fought off the infections she should be waking up, but it wasn't happening yet. He didn't care, he could wait her out. We'll see who's stubborn, he thought with a small laugh.

Every day since he woke up he asked to be able to see her. They hadn't let him the first couple days, but he was relentless and they finally gave in. He wasn't able to sit in the wheelchair too long before he tired and had to go back to bed. He vowed to himself that he would visit her every day for as long as he could. The nurse, Ivy, had let him know that Elaine didn't have any family and that made his resolve even firmer. He would not let her go through this alone. Together. No other option. He'd told her that every day that he came to visit.

"It's ok for you to wake... up now Elaine. You've beat the... odds. You've survived a terrible injury… And an infection. They weren't sure… you would make it, but I… knew you would." He squeezed her hand and looked at it. "You're a fighter Elaine. You've proved... that." He gave a soft chuckle. "You weren't going to let those… stairs beat you and they didn't… You can't let this beat you… Open your eyes dammit."

"Okay okay. Can't a girl sleep in peace?" Elaine's voice was gravelly from not being used, but she managed to make the tone teasing. She turned her head slowly towards him, unsure what was hurting. "You made it."

"So did you. I told you… together was the only option." Sam smiled.

"Friggin stubborn." She smiled and a tear tracked down the side of her face. She couldn't believe he was sitting in front of her. He'd survived. She couldn't believe she survived. She put a hand to her stomach then looked at him. "How bad?"

"I'll get the doctor." Sam started to turn but looked back at her. "It's so good to see you... awake. I'll be right back."

She smiled and noted that his speech was impaired by the fact that he had to take a breath after so many words. Her guilt renewed. She did break his ribs by landing on him. She looked down and was cursing her body when she realized that she'd lost weight since the accident. She wondered how different her life would be now. She looked at her hand on her stomach and wondered what organs she'd damaged. She took a breath as Sam was being pushed towards her room by a nurse. She frowned when the nurse spoke to him, he shook his head and then conceded. He was pushed out of sight and the nurse came back a minute later.

"Hi Miss Ville. It's so good to see you awake. What's your pain level?" Ivy smiled as she took Elaine's vitals.

"Where did you take Sam?" Yes, she thought, that's his name. It'd alluded her at first, but she knew that face and those eyes.

"He went back to his room for a few minutes so I can check on you. He's coming back after." Ivy reassured her. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the doctor walking towards them. She looked back at Elaine. "So what's your pain level?"

"Um, five if I don't move. It's like 10 if I move." Elaine put a hand back on her stomach, but moved it when that caused pain.

"Ok. I'll talk to her about a boost on your pain med." Ivy said just as Doctor Pulaski walked in.

"Oh good. Yes, I want to stay on top of your pain. No being a hero ok?" Dr. Pulaski smiled.

"No problem." Elaine nodded. She waited patiently while the doctor checked her wound and listened to her heart.

"You're healing well." Dr. Pulaski smiled. "As you know the rebar went through your back at a downward angle and into Officer Braddock's lower stomach. Now, we aren't sure how, because it's a million in one chance, but the rebar missed your spine and your ribs, cut through the top of one of your kidneys, slipped between your liver and pancreas, punctured your stomach, caused damage to the duodenum and the beginning of your small intestine, then exited your upper abdomen." She pointed to the exact spots on her body to illustrate.

"Wow." Elaine was amazed that she was stabbed from one side of her body to the other and it didn't damage her spine.

"Definitely." The doctor nodded. "So the beginning of your small intestine was too damaged to repair, they took out the damaged intestine and had to make your stomach half the size it was. This was essentially like if you had weight loss surgery. The nutritionist will be in to talk to you about your diet from now on. You'll need to eat smaller and more frequent meals. They did have to remove part of one of your kidneys, which is ok because you can live without it. You got an infection right after your surgery, so that's why you've been unconscious for so long."

Elaine cocked her head. "How long?"

"Two weeks." Pulaski answered.

"Oh my god." Elaine put a hand to her mouth. After a moment she asked, "how much longer will I have to stay here?"

"It depends on how well you start to recover now and if we can keep your pain at a manageable level. You're still on a high dose of pain meds and we're watching your blood, urine and bowel outputs to make sure the infection doesn't come back and everything is working ok." Pulaski studied her patient's face. She could see how overwhelming this was and that she was getting tired. "Ivy will be back with the pain boost, we had you on a regular schedule, but you should get some rest. I'll tell Officer Braddock to come back later this evening."

Oh! She'd totally forgotten to ask about his injuries. "I don't know if you can tell me, but how serious are his injuries?" Elaine asked. The doctor was right, she was getting tired.

"He'll make a full recovery." Pulaski smiled. She stepped closer and said, "he was lucky you swapped positions with him." She saw the surprise in Elaine's eyes and explained. "He says that when the bomb went off he laid on top of you to protect you. After you stopped falling, you rolled yourselves over and took the brunt of the force of the rebar. It went into his stomach, but not far enough to cause major damage. You're a hero."

Elaine put her head back on the pillow. A hero? Not likely. He was the one that covered her to protect her, she'd just returned the favor. A tear slipped from her eye and she wiped it away with her hand. She closed her eyes and heard the doctor and nurse quietly leave the room. A few moments later, she was asleep.

##### 3 hours later #####

Sam rolled to her door and saw that she was awake so he pressed the automatic door.

She heard the door, but didn't turn from her million mile stare out the window. It was him. She didn't have any family, so he was the only one that'd visited her.

"Hey Elaine. You have a… good nap?" He kept his tone light even though he could see her thoughts were heavy. When she barely lifted her shoulder he frowned at her. "You ok?" A small nod. "You don't look it." Understanding dawned and he softened his tone. "Is it bad?" Was this just temporary? Was she in danger of dying from her injuries?

After a few minutes she finally spoke, but didn't look at him. "I'm sorry you were injured. You weren't supposed to be."

"We were in a building that was blown up by a bomb. How is that your fault?" He stopped next to her bed and took her hand, but she pulled it away.

"You wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me." She looked at him, her eyes flashing. "If I hadn't run back to my office. If I had just sucked it up and started down the stairs earlier. If you'd just gone ahead and left me there.."

"Left you there? You might've died." Sam said incredulously.

"And the world would not have weeped for me." She threw back angrily. "Have you seen any family here? I'm alone. I don't have anyone. No one will be at my funeral, hell my coworkers probably wouldn't have even noticed."

"You have me. Dammit. You have me… We go together. No other option." Sam said angrily. "I will always be your friend... Elaine. I will always be here... for you. Were linked now, pun… intended." He gave her a small smile.

"Why?" Elaine furrowed her brows deeply.

"Because," he looked away shyly, "you're my hero."

Elaine scoffed. Was he serious? "But, I.."

"Why did you flip us over so you were covering me?" He asked simply.

"Because it seemed like the right thing to do. You did so much for me and I guess I wanted to do something for you. I know it's your job, but I thought, who protects the protector?" Elaine shrugged and winced when it caused pain in her stomach.

"Exactly. And I.." Emotion flooded his voice and he stopped for a moment. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for me." The tears filled his eyes and dripped free.

She had no words and let her tears fall freely. She took his hand in hers and squeezed. He was right. They were forever tied to one another. Her heart lifted at the thought of having a friend. An actual friend that cared about her. After all of the horrible things she'd been through in her life, and the people that caused them she was cared for again. It was a wonderful feeling.

##### five weeks after rescue #####

"Well, well, look who it is, Mr. I'm going to pick you up at three so be ready." Elaine scoffed as Sam walked into the room, still in uniform, ten minutes late.

"C'mon." He looked at his watch and smiled at her sheepishly.

"Ten minutes!" She pointed to her watch mockingly.

"Give me a break will ya? We had a last minute call." Sam stopped in front of her and put his fists on his hips.

Elaine eyed him suspiciously. "Yeah sure. The 'ol work held me up excuse." She looked up at him from the edge of the bed. She'd really started hating being stuck in this stupid bed, and the last two weeks were the worst. They made her rest even though she'd started feeling good. She'd talked to the nutritionist and figured out a shopping list for when she went home. The best thing was that she'd lost fifty pounds while she was in the hospital. While it was mostly the hospital food, it was also getting used to the way she had to eat from now on. It made her feel much more confident about herself and she'd asked that a counselor come help her deal with her past so she could focus on her future.

"So I take it you're ready?" Sam smiled at her.

"Oh my god, yes!" She pushed herself off the bed and grabbed her bag, but he took it from her.

"Not so fast, miss lady. You have a grand chariot for your exit." Ivy said as she pushed the wheelchair into the room. When Elaine groaned she gave her patient an annoyed look.

"Ok fine." Elaine huffed. She threw Sam a withering look, knowing that he was going along with the ridiculousness.

Sam laughed and chatted to Elaine about his day while he pushed her out of the hospital. He stood by while she got into the passenger seat and he shut the door. He drove her to the market and pushed the basket for her while she picked out what she needed. He drove her home and helped her inside with her groceries.

Elaine looked at the fridge and cringed. Oh god, five weeks, she thought. I've been gone for five weeks. The stuff in there is probably alive by now. She walked to the fridge and tentatively opened it. What she saw was shocking. The fridge was completely empty, it was clean and there was a fresh box of baking soda in the back. "Oh my god! Sam!" She turned to him.

"No big." Sam shrugged as he emptied one bag of groceries onto the counter and started on a second. He looked at her hopefully. "You're still coming tonight right?"

She blushed but agreed. The city was giving Sam and the other rescuers a commendation for their actions the day of the bombing. She was so proud of him, and proud to call him a friend. His team had even started visiting her three weeks ago and easily welcomed her into their family. Now she had a ton of friends and it felt so good. And, she had a date tomorrow with one of the physical therapists. It wasn't the one she worked with, but he'd noticed her and started talking to her. Life was good.

He looked at his watch. "Better get ready." He grinned. "We don't want to be late." He said mockingly.

With a raised brow she left the room. She'd get him back later. They were always joking around like that, throwing harmless barbs back and forth like siblings would. She smiled to herself as she got in the shower. It was true, he was like an older brother. A sometimes annoying one. She chuckled and finished her shower. She looked at the clothes in her closet and shook her head. None of them would fit her anymore.

She looked down and noticed a blue tote in the bottom of her closet. She smiled and opened it. These were her clothes from five years ago, before she started putting on the weight. Any self-respecting fat girl had a stash of skinny clothes and this was hers. She pulled out shirts, pants and shorts but stopped when she saw her favorite yellow dress. She pulled it out and held it lovingly. She bit her lip as she unzipped the back and slid the dress on. She said a silent prayer and reached behind her to zip it up. It pulled on her stomach and she gritted her teeth. She hated to, but she had to ask. "Sam?"

"Yeah?" Sam hurried to her room and waited at the door. "Everything ok?"

"Yes, but, could you zip up my dress?" She said the through the door.

"Sure." He swallowed and waited while she opened the door. He'd done this several times for his mom, but she wasn't his mom. He'd come to love her like a sister over the past five weeks. He knew it seemed fast, but he didn't care. They had an unbreakable bond. He just hoped tonight went off without a hitch. She opened the door and was facing away from him. He easily pulled the zipper to the top. He didn't mean to, but he stared at the scar on her back from the rebar before it was covered by the dress. It was completely healed, but it left a raised line. He heard her say something but he wasn't sure what it was. Then her shoulders started to shake. He put a hand on her shoulder. "You ok?"

Elaine turned to look at him, tears in her eyes. The dress fit perfectly. She looked down and back at him. "I haven't worn this in almost ten years. I can't believe it fits again."

He pulled her into a gentle hug. "You look beautiful."

She sniffed and pulled back from him. When she looked in his eyes she saw acceptance and brotherly love. She smiled and stepped back into her room. "Be right out." She closed the door. She stood in front of her mirror for a good ten minutes staring at the dress she'd loved since she bought it. It was a-line, short sleeved and fitted on the top with embroidery on the bodice, then it had yellow silk fabric with pale yellow, sheer fabric over it that split in the middle. It hugged her new curves in just the right places. It's a dream, she told herself. She shook her head, her wet brown hair swinging around her face. No, it's real. For the first time, she thought of her injury as a blessing in disguise. "This is a new beginning." She told herself.

Sam looked at the door to her room. It'd been quite a while since he helped her with her dress. He wondered if she was ok. He went to the door and knocked. "Elaine?"

With a glance back at the mirror she walked to the door and held her breath as she walked out. He'd already seen her in the dress, but she waited for his approval now that she had jewelry and her hair done.

"You look really beautiful." He smiled and kissed her cheek approvingly.

"Look out Jules." She teased.

Sam gave her an incredulous look. He thought he'd kept his feelings for Jules hidden, but Elaine had asked him why they weren't together a couple weeks ago. Since then he'd been laughing it off, trying to pretend he didn't hear or that she was way off base. She saw through it though.

Elaine rolled her eyes at him. "Oh just admit you can't live your life without her already."

He just stared at her, unsure of what to say. Should he confide in her?

"I'm not going to say anything. I understand. You can't be together right now, but I have a feeling that won't be for forever." She smiled reassuringly.

"I hope so, but for now we're just best friends." Sam confided. He let a small sigh escape, glad that he could finally talk to someone about it. When he and Jules first broke up, he'd talked in general terms to Ed the night they got a beer, but it wasn't the same.

She eyed him. "Listen, anytime you want to talk I'm here. I know you can't talk to your team about it and that's hard, but my ears are open and my shoulders strong."

Sam gave her a lopsided smile and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks Elaine." He pulled back from her. "You're the best."

Elaine winked at him as she walked past and said, "I know."

He scoffed and followed her out the door, giving her lip about being too cocky and that that was his job. They laughed and talked all the way to the hall.

When they got inside, they were escorted to the table at the front of the room with the rest of Team One, including Shelly and Sophie.

"Hi guys." Elaine smiled at them all and sat between Sam and Spike.

"You look beautiful." Spike smiled genuinely at her. He almost hadn't recognized her when she walked in with Sam.

"Amazing." Jules added excitedly.

The rest of the table added their agreement and Elaine blushed deeply.

After they were served a very delicious dinner, Commander Holleran went up to the podium. "Thank you all so much for coming to this very special evening. As you know, we're here to celebrate the outstanding men and women that put their lives on the line to save 150 people from the Murray building bombing five weeks ago." Cheering and clapping erupted from the crowd and many banged their hands on the table. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce the mayor of Toronto, Her Worship Lauraline Crowley." He put a hand up and a very neat and professional looking older woman walked onto the stage.

The Mayor praised every single member of the fire department, the paramedics and each of the members of Team One for their bravery that day. She called the fire department up first, calling up the four men that went inside to rescue Sam and Elaine. She placed a small medal on each one's uniform just above the heart.

Then she called up Steve and his partners and gave each of them the same small medal. The Mayor looked down at the table containing the last seven commendations. She knew this was a surprise and she couldn't wait. "Would the members of the Strategic Response Unit's Team One and special guest Elaine Ville please join me on stage?" She palmed the last medal.

Elaine looked at Sam and the team nervously. She had been honored when she was asked to speak about what happened that day and the impact it had on her life. They'd also asked her to pin the medals onto Team One. She hoped she could hold it together long enough to do it.

Sam kept his face stoic, but inside he was a little nervous and excited to see what her reaction would be. He'd been planning this for a couple weeks now and it was all coming down to the next five minutes.

Wordy stole a quick glance at Sam. He was keeping his face straight, good. He followed The Boss and Ed to the stage and knew he was followed by Sam, Raf and Jules. That was the plan. It was also the plan to pass the medal to Greg Parker when the Mayor shook his hand. It'd gone perfectly and they'd carefully and silently passed the medal to Sam.

They sat down in the chairs on the stage while Elaine talked about what happened and how Team One, the firemen and paramedics saved her and Sam that day. It was extremely moving and the whole audience was in tears by the end. She left out the part about switching places with Sam and had simply said that they had fallen to the floor and she had landed on top of Sam and then they were impaled. She stole a quick glance after this and saw that Team One hadn't batted an eyebrow, good. When she was done, she asked that the audience hold their applause until all of the medals were given.

She stepped to the table and picked up the six medals. Team One stood at attention while she was doing this. She walked to Greg and stood in front of him. She pinned the medal on his chest. "For your bravery in the face of mortal danger while putting others ahead of yourself." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek which caused the audience to "awww". She moved to Ed and repeated the process except that he looked her in the eye which caused her to tear up. She moved on to Wordy and then Sam. She took a deep breath when she stopped in front of Sam.

"For your bravery in the face of.." She put a hand to her mouth to stop a sob and inhaled through her nose. I can do this, she thought. "For your bravery in the face of mortal danger while putting others ahead of yourself." She wiped her face and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered. She moved to Raf and then Jules. After she kissed Jules, she moved to the side and started clapping which caused the audience to start clapping. What happened next, blew her mind.

"Atten-hut!" Greg called and every member of Team One snapped to attention. The room fell silent. "Left face!" They all turned to their left so they were facing Elaine.

Elaine's face dropped in surprise. What were they doing?

"Present arms!" Greg called and they all saluted and held it until he said, "right face!" They all turned to the front. "Constable Braddock front and center."

Sam stepped forward two steps and did a military turn so that he was facing the side. Then he marched forward, stopped in front of Elaine and turned so that he was facing the audience.

"What're you doing?" Elaine whispered.

"Everything this woman told you about that day is true, except that she did not fall on me. When the bomb went off, I did my job. I fell on top of her to try to protect her from harm." He took a steadying breath. "When we stopped falling, I was knocked unconscious. It was at that time that Miss Ville rolled us so that she was on top of me, trying to protect me from further injury. It was only a moment later that we were impaled. She took the worst of the injury and I was spared with only minor injuries.

Now, you're probably wondering why it's taken so long to have this ceremony. Well, that is because we were waiting for Elaine to be released from the hospital, which she was today." He stopped while there were cheers and applause. When it died down he continued. "There is no doubt in my mind, that Elaine Ville saved my life that day with her selfless and incredibly brave act. And so." he turned crisply, took a step and stood in front of her. The tears were tracking down her face and he swallowed to keep his at bay. He kept his voice loud so that all could hear. "Elaine Ville, for your bravery in the face of mortal danger while putting others ahead of yourself, I present you with the Citizen Medal. Your selflessness and courage is inspiration to us all." He stepped to the side and clapped.

The whole room erupted into a standing ovation that lasted a good five minutes before Team One was dismissed and they surrounded Elaine.

They each gave her a hug and parted when Sam stepped to her. "Congratulations." He hugged her tight.

"This was, I mean I can't believe you-. Wait, let me start over." She took a breath and looked each of them in the eye. "Thank you. I wasn't expecting this at all. I don't know if I-"

"You deserve it." Wordy said with conviction.

She looked around the group and saw that they were all nodding.

"So? How do you feel? " Jules smiled.

"Like this is a new beginning and life is good."


End file.
